To walk into a strange land is both a thing of beauty and a bit terrifying. This was thought in my head as we began our decent into Guatemala to begin 11 months of missions and travel. It’s amazing how close Guatemala is the US (3.5 hours from Atlanta airport), but it’s such a different world entirely! Here the landscape is made up of lush green mountains with tiny villages and towns spaced along the roads up into the mountains. Here dogs roam free EVERYWHERE and people cram 20+ people into little vans to travel around the county, with additional people handing off of the sides of the van and even more riding on top.
We are staying in the tiny mountain city of Santa Cruz del Quiche. We’re living in tents in the yard of Agape in Action, a medical mission ministry focusing on spreading God’s love through helping the underprivileged in Guatemala access medical care and medical supplies. They run 21 clinics across rural Guatemala and help the government hospital across the street with supplies and care.
My team of six girls, along with another team, are helping a local pastor, Pastor Eliseo, expand his Church’s ministry through preparing land for a new Church community center building. Each day we take a bus into the middle of the mountains, then hike up a muddy dirt road to the site of concrete ruins where a previous building was started and abandoned. It’s there where we are demolishing the remains and leveling the land in preparation for the new building construction. It’s incredibly difficult work. We are using hand tools (hammers, chisels, pickaxes) to demolish cinderblock and concrete walls one foot at a time. It’s literally back-breaking work, and something that having a desk job never prepared me for, but I’m slowly beginning to find the joy in helping this local community through manual labor.
Each day before we begin work one team member shares a scripture, and we prayer over the group as we begin. We also are taking turns praying over the area and the amazing works that will be done there once it’s built. Pastor Eliseo’s vision is to have a place where children can gather for camps and lessons, where women can meet to together, and where families can come to learn about the word of God. As I look at the muddy, dirty, rock covered ground of the site, I can imagine people coming there someday to learn about God’s grace, provision, and truth.
But not every day has been work. I got here at an amazing time! Guatemala celebrated their independence day this week! Marta, one of the amazing women working at the mission here, brought 15+ traditional Guatemalan outfits for us to wear when attending the local parade. It was an incredible experience!!!!
To wear one of the outfits was a blessing. They are handmade- a hand woven kilt-style skirt held on by a hand stitched belt, topped with a hand beaded blouse. These outfits are so detailed and expensive that a poor woman may only have one in her life, and a middle class to rich woman may have ten total in her wardrobe. For these generous women to bring so many, they must have cleared out their entire closets. What a beautiful act of love towards a group of strangers! My heart was so overcome when they showed up with the clothes. They even came an hour early to help dress us since the outfits are difficult to get on without practice (think the combination of a kilt and corset). We attended the parade with them, and got to cheer on their children and families marching in the parade, along with our own team mates and the schools where they do ministry. It was a fantastic day that let me really experience the culture of Guatemala and grow so much closer to this wonderful country we are in.
Prayer Requests:
Safety and endurance during demolition and construction. It’s hard work, and we are spending around 8-9 hours working every day.
Blessings on our host ministry (Agape in Action) and our local ministries. Please pray for blessings on them as they struggle against the odds to bless the people around them and show them the love of God.
Health and safety for our team. We have a goode number of team members who are sick, and it’s difficult some days to adjust to the increased power of the sun paired with the altitude we are at (7,000 feet).
